Let's say that Flight has a better graphics engine, and better flight physics. If it is to be limited at some small areas around the world (and that after 1-2 years because now it is Hawai only), what would a flight simmer do with it?Take leisure flights at these small areas? What about Vatsim, Ivao, e.t.c? All this community that have taken flight simulation to whole other levels?And if they are gonna add airliners, then you would fly from Hawai to where? To the West Coast of the US? A rather long flight over only ocean? This wouln't even appeal to the current market that ms aims for, xbox users e.t.c. And maybe they create a big area, let's say even the whole US to fly airliners there. It would still be only US.I believe it has been said that Flight will contain smaller areas but with greater detail. Nothing about global coverage.And, hm... after seeing these leaked videos i wasn't impressed about the graphics. The autogen is better, the terrain textures are rough, landclass is similar to fsx, and generally orbx could have made it look even better for fsx. You are telling me they spend 2-3 yers building this???And as it has been said, this is the beta, this is more or less the product that we're gonna get. Or do you expect that ms will say "Surprise!" and release the whole world?All in all, maybe some people have expectations about Flight, but in 2012 you would expect global coverage with at least the graphics that Flight currently has or better, and lots more features. But the disbanding of the aces team indicates that ms is done with a flight simulator like that.

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by Stathis1

For all of the haters out there - you might be dead wrong about Flight and will feel pretty stupid when all is said and done.

I doubt that, I like my airliners and long haul flights, thank you very much

1. Flight has BETTER graphics than FSX

Better than default FSX yes, but isn't FSX default supposed to base for us to get more detail for the areas we prefer to fly?Say I want to VFR Arizona or have a proper looking Australia, I get add-ons to accmplish that. And with the rest of the planet I can fly to Beijing, Dubai, Berlin, Moscow, etc. and that is a very nice treat (even with default textures.)"pretty colors" are fine and all if you absolutely love an area, but not everyone likes Hawaii, nor whatever MS will portray next (if anywhere else at all.)

2. Flight has a MORE POWERFUL and EFFICIENT graphics engine than FSX

If I stripped the world from FSX and just had Hawaii, I'd get the same exact "efficiency." It's easy to be more powerful and efficent when all you have is a small collection of islands.

3. Flight has BETTER flight physics than FSX

So I'll get more realisitc responses from a 747? How about crosswind landing a 737 at Miami under hurricane conditions?I don't fly GA that often (mainly just for "virtual vacations") so better physics on a Stearman and A5 mean nothing much to me.

4. Flight has the capability in the core engine to handle all the detailed features and functionality that FSX has

Only a Flight developer will know this, so how are things at Microsoft?From what I've heard the game is locked tight, you guys did a good job with DRM, so a general user/betea tester wouldn't be able to easily determine such potential.

So they added some "arcadish" type missions for the kids. So what? They could have done that in FSX as well and no one would have complained. In fact, they did add arcadish content in XPACK and no one did complain.

In FSX I didn't have to earn XP to unlock liveries and aircraft, the FSX missions were diversions not critical gameplay elements. As a result nobody "complained" because those that would, just ignored them.

The fact is that no one knows what the final release will look like besides Microsoft. Chances are it will be good. Very good. So anyone looking to continue the flame war should think twice.

Hawaii, Big Island free, rest of chain you have to purchase.General Aviation, Icon A5 and Stearman free, others are also single prop GA either unlocked via XP or purchased.Microsoft has said and/or shown that. The game is good if you love GA and Hawaii, if you don't "too bad"...and I'm in the latter category

As far as 3rd party developers bailing on Flight? How many publishers do you think balked at Apple's "exorbitant" share for iTunes content - only to come crawling back when it took off in popularity. It will happen. Just a matter of time.

The 3rd parties are specialized to cater to a very niche community (those who want hyper-accurate simulation) they don't make much money, the profits they make are by selling what consumers want. Microsoft will insist on "dumbing down" to appeal to the masses (imagine the NGX with the FSX default VC) and the 3rd parties have to relent since they're not going to get much profit as MS will keep the lions share even if they do 'hyper-accurate' models.

Nothing out there now will be able to touch Flight - including prepar3d.

And that's your personal opinion, thank you for sharing.

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by FSX4Life

For all of the haters out there - you might be dead wrong about Flight and will feel pretty stupid when all is said and done.

That's what folks were saying when we told them that Flight would release with Hawaii only and would be limited to general aviation aircraft. Of course it was slightly worse in that it's only one of the Hawaiian islands rather than the entire chain, but we were at least giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt.

I would like to flavor mine with ATC, helicopters with quality flight dynamics, nice bush add on scenery Orbx quality, proper fog, clouds, 64bit, SLI, DX-11, and a pizza, extra cheese.

That's what folks were saying when we told them that Flight would release with Hawaii only and would be limited to general aviation aircraft. Of course it was slightly worse in that it's only one of the Hawaiian islands rather than the entire chain, but we were at least giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt.

I second that... You couldn't even put the whole chain in MS?Look you come in here flaming obviously looking for a fight... I am not sure what the guys in the Flight Beta Forum have painted in your head about us "Hardcore Simmers" but I will tell you there is nobody here that wants flight simming to die. I can't speak for everyone but I personally would be greatful if MS could figure out how to make top of the line aircraft with fully functional overhead pannels, a fully functional FMC and believable aircraft tolerances. The fact of the matter is, we know the product that microsoft has put out in the past, I think everyone in here loved FSX (minus the guy that I swear is a paid XPX pumper), but we know that the A/C that they make will never compare with those made by PMDG and others.So having 3rd party makers is a pretty big deal breaker for us, and yes you could be right and Flight could be the best thing we have ever seen, but until that day comes we will hold our reservations until we see it for ourselves.

Hey I like FSX too, I just think that its severely unstable program which should be updated by M$ to stop crashing.Actually I do not even own X plane 10.

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by pvjinflight

Hey I like FSX too, I just think that its severely unstable program which should be updated by M$ to stop crashing.

At this point I'd rather Pete Dawson do the updating! :Big Grin:Cheers,- jahman.

For all of the haters out there - you might be dead wrong about Flight and will feel pretty stupid when all is said and done.1. Flight has BETTER graphics than FSX2. Flight has a MORE POWERFUL and EFFICIENT graphics engine than FSX3. Flight has BETTER flight physics than FSX4. Flight has the capability in the core engine to handle all the detailed features and functionality that FSX hasSo they added some "arcadish" type missions for the kids. So what? They could have done that in FSX as well and no one would have complained. In fact, they did add arcadish content in XPACK and no one did complain.The fact is that no one knows what the final release will look like besides Microsoft. Chances are it will be good. Very good. So anyone looking to continue the flame war should think twice.As far as 3rd party developers bailing on Flight? How many publishers do you think balked at Apple's "exorbitant" share for iTunes content - only to come crawling back when it took off in popularity. It will happen. Just a matter of time.Nothing out there now will be able to touch Flight - including prepar3d.

The original poster must work for Microsoft's Damage Control department. :(

I looked on the Microsoft Flight FAQ page to find out if it's a 64-bit application and how many cores it can utilise on a modern processor. It told me neither of those two important facts. I would be amazed if it was not a 64-bit application and it should go without saying that it can use as many cores as your processor has.I did find this gem though..."Microsoft Flight" is a new PC game..." Aarrgghhh! I don't want to play a game. I want to SIMULATE flying an aircraft.Does anyone know the answer to the above questions please? I very much doubt I will be buying this game but I'm curious about how much modern technology has been employed.Thanks.

"Microsoft Flight" is a new PC game..." Aarrgghhh! I don't want to play a game. I want to SIMULATE flying an aircraft.

We know the sim engine hasn't been re-written, so it is good-ole 32-bit FSX that has been turned into an arcade game with some improved graphics for the island (not the archipelago) of Hawaii."Cheers",- jahman.

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by jahman

We now the sim engine hasn't been re-written, so it is good-ole 32-bit FSX that has been turned into an arcade game with come improved graphics for the island (not the archipelago) of Hawaii.

Thanks. That confirms my worst suspicions. It beggars belief they wouldn't write it in 64-bit. How many serious simmers buy 32-bit processors these days? Then again, this isn't aimed at serious simmers. :(

Edited January 10, 201214 yr by Ray Proudfoot

Thanks. That confirms my worst suspicions. It beggars belief they wouldn't write it in 64-bit. How many serious simmers buy 32-bit processors these days? Then again, this isn't aimed at serious simmers. :(

I'm with the rest of you guys. Looking at a couple of videos posted here it's nothing more than a gutted FSX in which they brought in Obix for a few scenery secretes and adopted that in the sim (once learned promptly dismissed Obix). The whole thing in pretty pathetic.

If I was the head of Microsoft Games I would be inviting the best 3rd party companies to Redmond expenses paid and doing deals that would be mutually beneficial to both parties to give the customer something that would blow them away.Minimum requirements would have to be complete Earth coverage which could be enhanced with 3rd party addons. So FSGlobal for that. PMDG for the aircraft. Pete Dowson for FSUIPC or equivalent control of joysticks tweaks etc. HiFi Sim for the weather engine. Radar Contact for ATC. Several companies for airport scenery. That's just off the top of my head. No offence to anyone I didn't mention.But given this 'game' has a 3-5 year life cycle you would think they would have planned ahead and written the whole thing in 64-bit when that will be the standard come 2015-17.

But given this 'game' has a 3-5 year life cycle

That's exactly the problem: It should be a set of optional SPs that:

1. Fix bugs,
2. Incrementally improve FPS,
3. and add fucnctionality,

... released once a year by a small, low-cost dedicated team that we would all buy for $30 (of course!) and that MS would be able to call a subscription.Flight is an example of greed getting the better part of common business sense.It might interest you folks that one of the signs of "impending catastrophe" in financial lending/credit is "business plans containing unsubstantiated expansion plans".Cheers,- jahman.

If I was the head of Microsoft Games I would be inviting the best 3rd party companies to Redmond expenses paid and doing deals that would be mutually beneficial to both parties to give the customer something that would blow them away.

Apparently they did the next best thing...talked to them for a while, learned what secrets they could and then shut them out.Very classy.